Rangeland Ecology & Management

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Spatial Heterogeneity in Response of Greater Sage-Grouse to Energy Development
Author
Jeffrey Beck
Andrew Gregory
Publication Year
2013
Body

Human disturbances to landscapes have led to declines in greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) populations across their range. Recently, studies utilizing lek count data have quantified negative impacts of oil and gas well-pad density on sage-grouse. However, these studies are typically regional and assume spatial stationarity, suggesting a need for a comprehensive analysis of the impacts of oil and gas development on sage-grouse at larger scales. Our objective was to use Wyoming Game and Fish Department lek count data to characterize localized sage-grouse population trends in Wyoming. We used a locally weighted scatterplot smoothing function to control for data periodicity and standardized the 3-year trend in lek attendance by the 10-year trend. We first assessed global trends by quadrant. Of 813 leks, 78% displayed marked declines of >58% from 2008-2010. Declines were largest in the northeast and smallest in the northwest. Declines were moderate in the southwest and co-occurred with slight increases to some leks, although increases did not countermand losses. Next, we characterized a geographically weighted regression with the 3-year trend data and well-pad densities within 500 m, 2 km, 5 km, and 10 km of leks for 0-, 2-, and 10-year lags. The geographically weighted regression provided 4.5-times better fit to our data than did the OLS spatial regression, and predicted that grouse populations were most heavily influenced by well-pad density within 500 m and 10 km of lek sites 10 years in the past. Thus, to be effective, management and siting guidelines need to incorporate regional heterogeneity.

Language
eng
Additional Information
Jeffrey Beck1, Andrew Gregory2 --- 1University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY, USA, 2Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ, USA